


The mystery of a true friend.

by MissJCM



Series: The mistery of a true friend. [2]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-21
Updated: 2013-07-03
Packaged: 2017-12-15 17:37:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/852217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissJCM/pseuds/MissJCM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the actual fic. A story about a girl and everything she had to do to found her place in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The beggining.

It was a lovely spring evening. The sun was setting deep in the horizon. Birds were finishing up their songs and flowers were closing their petals.

It was a street like all others. Hundreds of houses, all the same. Lights out at sunset, all the houses turned their lights off at the same time. It's like it always was.

House number 123 had its lights on, screams and crying and laughter could be heard all at once.

There was a new live coming to this world. It was just another day, another sunset, another night. But it wasn't, this girl was meant to be.

Hundreds of houses, all full of children, at least 3 in each house. Perfect. It was the perfect place to be.  
This was the perfect place for a girl to be born into.

The next day a woman in a nurse’s outfit took another woman, a much younger woman, she must have been 22 or younger, she was in a wheelchair, coming in and out of consciousness, she struggled to get up. Her baby was inside. She tried to scream but she was weak, and probably drugged.

She was never seen there again. She had been there for 10 months. They left early in the morning in a white van. Later on another woman came, she was pretty and seemed nice, she had a smile and colorful clothes. Amanda Steel.

***

That baby had the perfect childhood, she had the most amazing red hair ever seen, long and straight and falling perfectly down her back. Little freckles on her face that faded as she got older but when she stayed in the sun for too long you could still find them.

Everything about this place seemed perfect, kids playing, going to school on a yellow bus, moms at home and parents at the company, it was all incredibly wonderful.

But this place held secrets. Dark secrets.


	2. School.

Emma.

Her name fits perfectly with her.

"Emma. Emma. EMMA!"

"Sorry, got distracted Miss Holiday."

"I can see that. You have to focus. Now get inside. Can you see what's gone, what's different?"

"Yes, miss Holiday. Before I left there was a poster behind Henry, a pink book next to Stefanie, on the floor and you, Miss Holiday, were wearing a shirt, not a blouse, same colour."

"Very well, what else?"

"Uhhh...? I don't know."

"Are you sure there's nothing else? You’re not supposed to ask, you're supposed to know."

"I'm sure. I think... Yes. I'm sure"

"Good."

Miss Holiday was the teacher for her grade. She was a nice lady but she always made everyone nervous. Emma was always afraid of saying something wrong or missing something. It happened a lot more than it should and now Miss Holiday gained an interest in sending notes home, she has been grounded for weeks now. 

***

Recess.

"I'm 12 now, I should be able to do more, I mean, you're 10 and you're amazing Emma"

"Well, I just try hard, Henry."

"No you don't. You are always distracted."

"No I'm not. I'm always focused, you just don't see it."

"Of course, it's our problem now, we don't see it, that's the point, we should see it. That's what we are supposed to do."

"You guys are jumpier than usual, I mean, Henry won't stop complaining and Stefanie keeps jumping around and doesn't say a word"

"Ohh, that's because she's doing a new thing, her and some other older guy. They aren't supposed to speak so that they can keep their senses on high alert"

"That’s smart. I couldn't handle not talking. Are you sure you don't wanna talk Stef?"

"Stop that. She'll be punished if she talks."

Silence fell, the bell rang.

It was clearly something wrong here, detention couldn't be so bad a thing wouldn't dare break a homework assignment.  
Children started heading inside even before the doorbell rang and none of them were wearing watches.


	3. Home.

Henry and Stefanie live across the street from Emma. Stef was the house across from her and Henry right next to it. Children on the same grade didn't live together. No twins, no nothing. It was all perfect. So far Emma was the only one without siblings. She didn't know why, apparently her mother couldn't have more.

***

Remember the lady, yes, the real mom, well apparently she had troubled during delivery, she was taken and had surgery and it went bad. She is alive but couldn't have more kids, so she was out of the program. Another mother came and because siblings have to all be from the same mother, gene stuff, apparently they are trained for purposes and each house as one. Same genes, different results, if they don’t have the same genes the study are broken, so they created a new study on only children. Emma was special. All of this was kept a secret. 

***

Her house was as big as the others, she was spoiled, she had her room, a play room and even a room where her mom kept the entire house clothes, a walk in closet for the family. She liked walking around in the jackets and brush her hairs in it and go around the house delivering shocks to her mom and dad.

Her dad was a tall man, black hair and a smile that could light a whole town, handsome and the envy of every other woman in that mysterious neighborhood. Peter Steel.

Her house was blue on the outside and very colorful inside. She loved her house. Except the basement, it was her mommy's office, forbidden for her. And she was afraid of it, the few times she had been there had been for punishment. But she was still good, and she still loved her parents.

Her days consisted of waking up, going to school, home, homework with her mom’s help, dinner and playing and that was it. Bed time.

On the weekends she could play outside, she did her work in the mornings and played in the afternoon, every kid did.  
She had schedules to keep, these kids didn't need watches, they could tell time by the suns position and followers and all kinds of things nature had to offer.

Emma was smart. The kid’s only acquired their parents surname when they turned 18. Until then it was just Emma, or just Henry or just Stefanie.

She was smart and had been pulled up 2 grades by taking summer classes. She was getting ahead again, but they hadn't pull her yet, they didn't want her to get too far along yet.

When they saw her good results they separated a few siblings, Emma was the only one with a fake mom, her dad was her real one. They cried at the separation, all younger than Emma and they weren't seen for a while, not until they were ok with a new mommy and forgetting the old one.

Emma thought it was wrong and asked her mom, but she was punished too and now she didn't dare ask.

When she first started her classes in the class she is now she observed everyone and chose the people she should be friends with, the ones that needed friends, that was her specialty, friendship.

Henry was seduction, a ten year old learning that, but it wasn't that type of seduction, not until later, it was making sure people did what he wanted. Stef as Emma loved to call her, and Stefanie like it, she was sure, she notice how her lips went up whenever she called her that, was being trained to be a boss, to be able to look at people and they would fear her, intimidation. That was it, she even took karate and other weird named martial arts classes. Emma smiled every time Stef showed her her kicks, she fell, a lot, at first, she was getting better, her friends were younger.

She chose them because due to their specialty everyone was afraid they would use it on them, but Emma was kind of an expert on all specialties, she didn't tell anyone, she only showed her specialty, but she was a master at the others too, she even knew how to fight, she learned when she was supposed to be playing in her room. She liked them and they made her smile. 

She observed.

She observed Henry try to seduce Stef, and Stef almost making Henry pee his pants, other kids did that when she did it to Henry, but he was scared for a while and then he just started laughing, like always. It didn't work on each other. Emma knew why.


	4. History.

When they turn eighteen they go through a test to make sure they are able to do what they were trained to do.   
It happens on the 12th grade at the end of the school year. They old exams and everyone goes through it. The exams are held outside of the neighborhood, no kid ever leaves before that.

The thing is Emma is now sixteen, she’s in the 12th grade and she’s a senior alongside her friends that are now eighteen. She’s the first kid to go through this before eighteen. She’s ready, she knows that, she can feel it, but everyone’s so nervous and she can see the tiny glimpses they give her and she can tell they don’t think she’s ready.

They’re in their classroom, the same one that has been their second home for this entire year. One teacher, one classroom, all year long. 

They have history, their teacher, it’s Miss Claire now, no one knows her last name. Every teacher she has had is single, I guess that’s because every married women in their community has kids, and a husband, and has to stay home. Emma doesn’t enjoy this subject very much, Henry on the other side, loves it. He thinks history is fascinating and Emma can’t understand how a guy that is trained in the seduction specialty can be such a nerd. She knows that word is “a mean word and I shouldn’t say it”, they once made her repeat that for four hours straight, in her basement, in the dark, she was so scared and her legs hurt from standing and her throat was sore and everything sucked that day. She always shivered from the memory. She knew not to say the word, but noting stopped her from thinking it. Henry was dorky, don’t get her wrong, he was beautiful and charming and every girl wanted him, but she didn’t, she knew him, she knows he laughs at stupid jokes that she tells and that he helps her and Stef with everything they ask, he was a master at seduction and getting everyone to do what he was told but when it came down to Stef and Emma he was very easily manipulated. 

Henry grew up to have dark hair and very deep blue eyes, he was a lot like all the man in this place and that made Emma suspicious. Stef on the other hand had blonde hair, short and wavy and very beautiful, her eyes were dark, almost black but every time she was with the two of them they were so soft and calming. Every time Stefanie walked into a room everyone went quite, she was the oldest girl in her specialty, every specialty had two people per grade. Stefanie was the girl in her grade, the boy that had the same specialty as her was Isaac, he was terrifying, Emma hated him, he could get anyone to do what he wanted just by looking at them. Stef could do it too but she was nice and didn’t go around making people at school do stuff for her. Isaac used everything he learned at his private lessons to control the school.

History class was boring, they only had this class three times a year, before breaks and summer vacation. The teacher always said the same thing, how this neighborhood was away from the rest of the world so that they could train each student in a specialty that would help them make it in the rest of the world, this place had been created so that, one day, they could implement it around the world, there was a place like this in every country. Once they passed the exam they had a choice, be someone outside or stay in here and be a parent. If they chose to be outside and failed they would have to return to the agency where their experience would be catalogued and according to it changes would be made in that specialty classes, it was not good to have to come back, everyone would know you failed and you would be left in charge of minor things like trash man, paperwork and other things that didn’t have much importance.

Every kid knew this from point to point. Succeed.

If they chose to be parents they had to go through tests and exams and training and if their kids failed they would too. So, if the kids that went away eventually came back their parents would end up like them as well. 

Succeed.

Emma drifted off when Miss Claire started talking about the consequences of their failures. She watched Henry jump a little in his chair, he loved this subject and the history of it all started and all the things Miss Claire said about the founders. Stef kept her eyes on her book, she wrote everything down, she was very good at her specialty but not has much in the rest of her classes, Henry always helped her, he was very smart and a good tutor. Emma turned her head to face the leafs outside the window, she sat in the back, behind Stef and Henry, she sat with Amy, she was in the same specialty as Henry, Amy was the most beautiful girl in school. She had blonde hair, pink lips and she always wore dresses. Boys loved her, she was like Isaac, she could make every boy do as she wanted and she took advantage of that. Amy and Isaac had a thing, it was forbidden, they weren’t supposed to bond like that in here, it would make life outside more difficult to adjust to.

Emma saw the leafs flying around, being drifted through the wind and she dreamt of how it would feel like to just live, without a purpose, without so many people looking at you, without the weight on your shoulders that tells you to succeed.


	5. Chapter 5

Miss Claire kept talking, Emma kept dreaming, Henry kept listening and jumping up and down, and Stefanie kept writing. Amy kept having a conversation with Isaac through looks and sneaky hand gestures.

Emma might have been dreaming with her eyes open, but that’s just it, she still had her eyes open. This is what she was trained for, to look where no one else did, to figure out things that people couldn’t possibly know. 

History class taught her the same things every time, they talked about the good in this project, and how special they all were. Emma hated it, she felt like it was all a lie and a scheme and that she was just an experiment, the way they were punished was 2 inches away from torture. She was done. She wanted out, she hoped to leave this place and never have to come back. But for that she and to succeed, and what if she couldn’t?

***

She kept dreaming about as life away from this place, she dreamt about a normal childhood, they didn’t know what normal was, but she believed it to be so much better.

Her specialty said she would have to be a good friend, no matter what. She didn’t know how she could succeed whit that specialty, she understood how intimidation or seduction could help someone make its way to the top, but how was friendship going to help her? A good friend would give up a chance of a better job for her friend to get it, right? So, by that course of thought, how was she going to make it? She was the first in this specialty. She believed it was because they wanted to try something else, something new. They had younger people on it now, siblings, she kept thinking she could not make it. The first tries are never the best.

Being a good friend also made her a good secret keeper, she was good liar as well. So maybe there could be a chance.

***

“You are two weeks away from your final tests, hope you are ready. “

She was thrown back into the real world. Miss Claire was so nice, she was new and she was so young. Emma thought she could became a teacher, back when she was 14, she believed teaching could be a good use of the whole friendship thing but, even though they could choose to stay and be a teacher instead of leaving or becoming a parent, she was a first, she had to go.

“Now let me introduce you to Mister Adam Well, he’s here to tell you about exam day. Listen closely and take notes.” She took a step back heading to her desk but she stopped, looked at me directly and then diverted her eyes to everybody else and added “Take notes. Don’t go and ask someone else for them later. And Stefanie, don’t go around distributing copies of your notes, please.”

She sat at her desk. A tall man, with dark skin and a frown on his forehead that seemed to have been there for so long it was leaving permanent markings entered the room, suddenly the whole class went silent.

“Good morning everyone.”

“Good morning mister Well.”

His voice was deep and even though he seemed to be whispering his voice was very loud, even in the back of the room.  
“I’m here to tell you about your exams and a couple safety rules.”

Safety? Why do we need to know about that? Is this going to be dangerous? – Emma asked herself, she was getting worried and stressed – And why in the hell do we need this?.

“Don’t worry. It’s not dangerous. You just need to know that when you leave this community to go to your test site you need to keep everything to yourselves. You can’t go around telling anyone about your training, you’ll have a cover story.”

It’s like he could read her mind. And then she saw it, the yellow pin on his lapel. Interpretation. Now it made sense. As soon as everyone heard him their expressions changed, if she could tell, then he definitely could. 

Everyone over eighteen that entered this community had to wear a lapel pin that showed what their specialty was. Her mom, Amanda, had a pink one that indicated she was a helper, she was trained in medical skills, psychology and many other subjects that allowed her to be an excellent care giver. Her dad, Peter, had a white one, which meant he was trained for combat, to fight and to protect, he was a guardian. All of her teachers had black ones, that meant they were in management, everyone in management had more than one specialty, they had their main ones, the ones they grew up with and then they were given training so that they could teach, that meant they had knowledge of all specialties. 

She didn’t have a colour yet, but it would soon be light green. Henry and Amy would wear red and Stefanie would wear blue.

A cover story? Emma wondered why that was, if they planned on bringing this teaching method to the world why wouldn’t they know? Then she thought some more and when she understood she felt dumb for not realizing right away, if they knew about the training they wouldn’t be trusted and everyone would believe they were cheating. She thought that was it – It’s that? Right?

Emma started thinking that if an interpreter was here than she couldn’t hide what she was thinking. Their job was to know if someone was lying or nervous or hiding something. He could tell she was afraid, alongside everyone in that class room, except Miss Claire that seemed more interested in checking out Mister Well than listening to anything he had to say. Emma laughed at that and the tall man looked at her wondering why she was laughing. He looked back and saw Miss Claire trying to cover what she was doing, she turned red and Emma laughed some more, mister Well looked at Emma and gave a her a little smile on the corner of his lips.


End file.
